While the rest of the family slept upstairs on Sunday night, Taylor took the baby to the basement, where he beat her, according to a criminal complaint filed in Jackson Magistrate Court. Deputies also found bloody blankets in the basement.

Police later arrived on the scene and arrested Taylor. As they apprehended him, he quickly tried to wipe something off his groin area. Deputies quickly realized that he had sexually assaulted the child as well.

Taylor is currently charged with first-degree sexual assault, but Jackson County Sheriff Tony Boggs said that will be upgraded to murder.

“I’ve been here 25 years, and we’ve never encountered something of this nature,” Boggs said. “I don’t know if we’ve had anything like this near here.”

When police arrived on the scene, the baby was taken to a local hospital but was later taken to the intensive care unit at Charleston Area Medical Center. After Emmaleigh was pronounced brain dead, Adkins had to sign permission to take her off life support.